I think that a show like Angela can give kids a sense that it’s all right for things to not be perfect, and in addition, toward that end, we’ve got characters who are very purposely put there to reflect what children would normally perceive and treat as negative stereotypes. And we’re basically going against stereotype.

Gina Lash

Not only is, for instance, Angela’s best friend, Gina Lash, the chubbiest, and some would say by the ridiculous American standards that are imposed on little girls, the least attractive kid. That kid is Angela’s best friend, and she is completely unabashed about her absolute devotion to food. Especially cinnamon swirls, and anything sweet and delicious. And she has no qualms about it. She’s also the smartest girl in the class, so don’t mess with her. And she has a great deal of self confidence and presence, and she’s not apologizing to anyone for anything.

Gordy Rhinehart

Similarly, you have Gordy Rhinehart, who one would argue is the most wimpy boy in the class, who is always walking around with his inhaler, because of asthma and whatever. And his strength is that he’s really not afraid of anything except mold spores. He’s actually a very courageous little guy. He doesn’t have the physical wherewithal.

His father is the coach. His father is a burly type, you know, coach kind of guy, who thinks Gordy is just absolutely great the way he is. He doesn’t have to be a linebacker for his dad’s approval. His dad loves him. He doesn’t need to be the toughest kid in the class for Johnny Abatti and Angela and Gina to accept him as a friend. Gordy likes to make paper mache creations, and needlepoint, and do hairdos, and do all kinds of things that typically if a little boy did, he’d be ostracized.

Gordy Rhinehart, in fact, is passionately in love with Gina Lash. He just happens to be a romantic. He happens to be a passionate guy. He may grow up to fall in love with Johnny Abatti instead, which you shouldn’t probably print. But you know, who cares? It’s like, let everybody be who they are. We’re not trying to be subversive, or have a hidden agenda of teaching kids to share, or you know FCC kinds of what have you.

Angela's family.

But teaching kids to let each other be, and accept each other, and find interest in each other’s differences, rather than be a cause for ridicule. If we can do any of that, that’s really something. Besides making people laugh.

And given that Angela is for me very autobiographical, that was the most natural thing.

Joanna Ferrone

It just happened. It was autobiographical not in the sense of specifically having a Nanette Manoir to contend with.

Nanette Manoir

I was, however, the kind of kid who looked at other kids and thought gee, you know, rather than the peanut butter and jelly sandwich in wax paper floating around in the bottom of this giant brown Pathmark bag, that was the kind of kid who grows up in a family of eight kids that isn’t particularly organized.

As wonderful as my mother was, and I knew a girl named Donna Capizoli, whose father was the football coach, and her mom every day gives Donna a flying saucer sandwich, that has ham and melted cheese inside, and I’m looking at her sandwich and thinking why can’t that be me?

And that didn’t cause me to dislike Donna Capizoli, or feel that I had to take revenge on her. And so I did tend to make those sort of comparisons. I think all kids do.

And also in my mind, I was able to perform all kinds of heroic acts, and save the people that I cared about from frequent drownings and the like.

I think also there was this voice in my head that that spoke the way that Angela speaks. Angela repeats phrases: you know, "Today is the day of our school -- of our, you know, field trip for the class. You know, our annual field trip -- our annual class field trip for the class."

The way that children talk in kind of repeat words, and repeat phrases, and sound like small grownups. And I think they think of themselves as small grownups; and especially if they’re telling you something that they consider to be important. They’re going to express themselves with more words than necessary, or more repetition than you would think necessary. They’re not going to speak grammatically correctly. And so there was a certain element of that in creating Angela Anaconda.

Angela's dog King.

And then when it came to Angela's fantasies, they’re not dreams in the sense of Angela’s daydreaming; they’re dreams in the sense of being very associative. So a lot of the elements of things that happen in an episode can be brought into these fantasies at random.

And as far as the way Angela speaks in these fantasies -- she speaks for herself, of course, and she speaks for Nanette Manoir, or whoever else happens to be in the fantasy, putting words in people’s mouths. So she really is controlling her world. This little kid who can’t control a damn thing, and she knows she suddenly is controlling every aspect of her world. And it’s a wonderful outlet. I mean, that is her reality.